Ethics: Members of Media Using Fake Names to Buy Obama Merchandise

It’s a long-held tradition that, although members of the media may all harbor certain political views, they avoid participating in campaigns out of deference to their craft. After all, the free press exists to keep public figures honest, despite any shared stances, and if a reporter is known to have donated to someone, then there’s automatically the assumption that they have that politician’s best interests at heart.

Of course, bias in the media is an oft-lamented phenomenon of today, and it’s fairly easy to spot. But there’s something especially unsettling about the idea that some in the Fourth Estate are not only donating money to the people they’re ostensibly keeping honest; they’re doing so clandestinely.

One account from the DNC maintains that reporters were using aliases to make donations to the Obama campaign, thereby avoiding the possibility of public disclosure.